KUALA LUMPUR: THE remains of four Malaysian victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 have been identified and are expected to be brought home on Sept 18, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
Two of the four were children of Shell employee Tambi Jiee, identified as Muhammad Afzal, 17, and Marsha Azmeena, 15.
The other two were Gerakan’s Kota Damansara deputy youth chief, Liew Yau Chee, and flight attendant Shaikh Mohd Noor Mahmood, who was the last crew member to be identified.
Liow, however, said only two of the four remains were released from the military medical centre in Hilversum, The Hague. The Dutch government has yet to approve the release of the other two bodies.
“We are trying our best to bring home all four remains on the same day, but the process of obtaining approval usually takes up to a week.
“We hope the remains can be brought back as soon as possible. We have contacted the families and they thanked the government for its continuous efforts in bringing back the remains,” he said.
Liow said, to date, the remains of 36 Malaysians (excluding a passenger with dual citizenship, Loh Yan Hwa) have been identified.
“We are coordinating with the Dutch government to identify the remaining seven victims. We fear that if the remains are not in the Netherlands, they are, perhaps, in the detention area.
“Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has discussed with the Ukrainian government on a safe corridor for us to enter the separatist-controlled areas, and we hope a ceasefire would be enforced. Otherwise, it would be a challenge for us to enter the site.
“This will prevent us from finding more remains and from recovering the plane’s wreckage, which are crucial in our investigation to determine how the aircraft exploded or disintegrated in mid-air.”
Liow said an in-depth analysis into the pathology reports on the victims’ remains and plane wreckages would be able to confirm whether the 25 metal fragments found by the Dutch Safety Board came from a missile, which was believed to have torn the jetliner apart.
“The preliminary report revealed on Sept 9 only furnished the facts of the incident. We learnt that the flight crashed due to an external rupture. But, whether it was shot by a missile or what type of missile, it needs to be further analysed.”
Tambi, his wife Ariza Ghazalee and their four children were on the flight back to Malaysia when the tragedy occurred.
Liew and his wife, Lee Kiah Yeen, were on a business trip to Germany, leaving behind their son and daughter, aged 10 and 8 respectively.
Shaikh is survived by his wife, Mardiani Mahdi, 13-year-old son Zulhilmi, and daughter, Siti Darwiysha Zulaika, 2.
In Kuching, two relatives of Muhammad Afzal and his sister, Marsha Azmeera, departed for Amsterdam yesterday to bring the remains of the two siblings back to Malaysia.
The siblings’ aunt, Madzalina Ghazalee, said seven relatives will be at the Bunga Raya Complex at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to receive their remains.
She said the seven were very close with Afzal and Marsha, and had expressed their wish to be at KLIA to receive the remains, which will be flown via a Hercules C-130 aircraft from Sepang to Kuching.